DSK Maid Settles Civil Sex Assault Claims

BRONX, N.Y. (CN) – Dominique Strauss-Kahn and the Sofitel hotel maid whose rape accusations scuttled his bid for the French presidency reached a private settlement. Criminal rape charges against Strauss-Kahn in spring 2011 dashed the political hopes of the former head of the International Monetary Fund, who had been a frontrunner in the French presidential elections. He was arraigned in New York Criminal Court for allegedly attempting to rape a maid at the Sofitel Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. Prosecutors dropped the case as inconsistencies emerged in his accuser’s version of events, but a civil suit that she filed in the Bronx had some initial traction. In May 2012, roughly a year after the Sofitel encounter that Strauss-Kahn claimed was consensual, Bronx County Supreme Court Judge Douglas McKeon refused to grant him diplomatic immunity. The decision noted that Strauss-Kahn had resigned his IMF post at the height of the scandal, and that he had not sought immunity during criminal proceedings because he purportedly sought to clear his name. Attorneys for Diallo were not immediately available for comment. The publicity firm representing Strauss-Kahn released a short statement by his lawyers, William Taylor III and Amit Meht. “On behalf of Mr. Strauss-Kahn, we are pleased to have arrived at a resolution of this matter,” the lawyers wrote. “We are grateful to Judge McKeon whose patience and forbearance allowed this agreement to be formulated.”